Allamakee Soil & Water Conservation District welcomes new employee

The Allamakee Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) recently hired Eric Novey to take over the Project Coordinator position that Sara Berges previously held before she moved to a position with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Novey will be managing the CIG and RCPP projects.
CIG stands for Conservation Innovation Grant and will be focusing on conducting cover crop interseeding trials in growing corn. RCPP stands for Regional Conservation Partnership Program and focuses on adding small grains to rotations and implementing cover crops on fields that have manure application.

Novey grew up in Prairie du Chien, WI and has family in the Lansing and Prairie du Chien areas. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Soil and Crop Science. Prior to graduation he was a Natural Resources Manager intern at The Galena Territory in Galena, IL.

Since graduation he has worked the past seven years as an agronomist for a 12,000-acre commercial vegetable farm in central Wisconsin. This operation grew many crops including potatoes, sweet corn, snap beans, peas, carrots, beets, field corn and soybeans. The five-county area in Wisconsin where Novey worked has the widest adoption of cover crop use in the state.

Novey says he applied for the job in Allamakee County because he has an interest in cover crops and soil health. He is looking forward to being closer to his family as well as taking advantage of the many outdoor recreation opportunities northeast Iowa has to offer. He say his goal is to help growers reduce erosion, improve soil health and increase yields.

Anyone who has any questions about the RCPP or CIG projects should feel free to call the Allamakee SWCD office at 563-568-2246, ext. 3. More information about the CIG project will also soon be posted on the Allamakee SWCD website at allamakeeswcd.org.